fanny packs and velcro shoes - in or out?

Standing in my underware, sucking in my spare tire, surveying the chaos in my room lead me to only one conclusion: I have no clothes worthy of New York City. Sure my style is a bit off beat and rumpled, but for Chicago, on a good day, it’s reasonably hip. One might even say sophisticated (on a VERY good day). But I’m going to NY in a few days to visit a friend and here I stand, with a pile of unsatisfactory clothes to shove into my suitcase.

I’m not looking to be trendy. I just want to blend it. To not look like a complete and total Midwestern tourist. But, with my current budget, I guess that’s all I can hope for.

One might ask where I got this idea of “fashion” in my head. One might ask this b/c I’m not really “savvy” in this department on a daily basis. Well, thank you media. My audiobook of the moment is The Devil Wears Prada (which is decisively poorly written but brain candy nonetheless) and the talk of haute couture is contagious. I am also a huge fan of (what else) Sex & the City, and, on the opposite yet still trendy end, the literary scene. Both of which advertise a “look” and a “feel” of what a good NYer is supposed to emulate.

So I must revel in my Midwestern tourist charade. Charade? Is that the right word? I’m not pretending to be one, I am, in fact, one. But as a 20-something professional, I feel that I should represent Chicago in an appropriate manner. Instead, I’ll hang my camera around my neck, grab a nylon fanny pack and start walking blindly around Manhattan…. No… i kid. But I do believe that I will say “eff it all” and don my tshirt, jeans and sensible walking shoes and wander around Central Park, enjoying the fact that at least I’m not the one wearing a fanny pack.